


Understood

by Belle_Eyre27



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Beauty and the Beast - All Media Types, Beauty and the Beast - Fandom, Beauty and the Beast - Menken/Ashman & Rice/Woolverton
Genre: Broadway, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:41:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25759765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belle_Eyre27/pseuds/Belle_Eyre27
Summary: A short ficlet inspired by the library scene from the Broadway version of 'Beauty and the Beast'. If you haven’t had a chance to see the show, the dialogue is on the Original Cast album at the end of “Something There” and it’s also pretty easy to find videos on Youtube!
Relationships: Beast & Belle (Disney), Beast/Belle (Disney)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	Understood

“So I know how it feels to be different, and I know how lonely that can be.” 

He flinched when she took his hand. While he didn’t pull away, she could not deny that he had visibly flinched when she laid her hand across the back of his paw. She wanted to look into his eyes, but all she could see was the top of his head as he stared transfixed at the spot where their hands met.  _ This poor lonely creature. _ When was the last time he’d felt the touch of another person? 

His head shifted, and he looked up at her. As her eyes met his, she could see his dawning embarrassment that she had caught him out at being made so utterly vulnerable by her small attention. She didn’t want him to feel embarrassed any more today. His pride had been wounded enough this afternoon-  _ stupid girl for pressing him _ ! But she had been so touched by his generosity she wanted to do something for him in return and recommending one of her favorite stories seemed as good a place to start as any. How was she to know that in pressing him to accept her recommendation, she’d accidentally cajole him into confessing that he didn’t know how to read? This tenuous  _ something  _ between them would have been over before it had even begun if she hadn’t quickly thought to fix it by offering to read the book aloud to him instead. 

No, she didn’t want him to feel ashamed, especially in anything that related to this splendid gift. She suspected he didn’t have much experience in giving gifts and the memory of his evident delight at having pleased her with such a marvelous surprise was still seared into her heart hours later. She didn’t want any hurt feelings or wounded pride spoiling that memory for either of them. 

In that same split second, she realized she also wanted to curtail his embarrassment because she didn’t want him to leave. She liked reading aloud to him in this cozy nook of her very own library- _ her very own library! _ The library itself was a treasure beyond her wildest imaginings but she found she enjoyed it so much more in being able to share it with a friend. Books had always been her dearest friends, but maybe she was missing something in not having many real friends too. She found that she liked having his warm presence beside her and if he sulked away to hide, ashamed and embarrassed, she would miss him. 

Truth be told, she wasn’t a particularly tactile person as a general rule. She wasn’t sure what had spurred her to this unusual desire to comfort with touch, but it just felt like the natural thing to do.  _ “I never knew books could do that,” he had said earlier. “Take me away from this place and make me forget what I am. _ ” Perhaps she got swept away in the moment of recognizing a kindred spirit. It was the first time she’d heard someone say anything close to the desire that had echoed in the back of her head for most of her life- the overpowering wish to be anywhere else. Everyone in her village seemed so sure of their place in the community, so certain that they belonged. She’d never met anyone who also seemed to know what it was like to feel out of place. It was an unfamiliar but strangely wonderful feeling to maybe be understood. 

He had laid his insecurities bare before her more than once this afternoon, and the last thing she wanted to do was give him a reason to regret it. 

Before his embarrassment had a chance to fully register, before he could stammer out some small fib to save face and run away, she cleared her throat and continued with the story. 

“For the third time, Arthur drew forth the sword and there arose from the people a great shout. ‘Arthur is king!’” 

As she read the last sentence of the chapter, she was startled by a soft weight on the back of her hand as the Beast quietly laid his other paw upon it. Looking up from the page and into his eyes she thinks she sees a gentle thanks and a quiet sympathy. In the time she spent drawing conclusions about the Beast’s loneliness, it never occurred to her that he may have been drawing his own conclusions about her own. 

Yes, it really was a wonderful thing to feel understood. 


End file.
